Census Info

The census is a valuable source of information about the people who lived
here. In 1870 John L. Dupree is 29 years old. His wife Carrie is 24 and they
have 3 children. They are white. He is a sawmill owner. George Parker is 39,
black, and a teamster. He and his wife were born in Alabama and they have 2
children born in Texas. A section of the 1880 census is designated as the
"Smokevill Settlement". Among those who live there are the following. Elisabeth
Caffy is 60. Three unmarried children live with her: Livian, 39, blind; Francis
33; and Robert, 23, a wagoner. Charles Scott is 39, mulatto, laborer. Moses
Johnson is 55, mulatto, woodchopper. John Ray is 25, mulatto, woodchopper. His
wife is 25 and they have 5 daughters. George Parker is 50, mulatto, farmer. His
wife Emily is 50, mulatto. They have 3 daughters and 1 son; the youngest is 3
months old. Louis Lemmons is 29, mulatto, laborer. His wife Hanna is 23 and they
have 3 children. Prinz Chane is 48, black, farmer. His wife Charlotte is 50 and
one son and 2 grandchildren live with them. Austin Lee is 43, black, farmer. His
wife Sarah is 54, and 1 daughter and 2 grandchildren live with them. William
McKissock is 27, mulatto, laborer and has 4 stepchildren. The 1895-96 city
directory says that George Parker is a charcoal dealer. I believe that various
people in the "Smokevill Settlement" were involved in the production of charcoal
and therefore the name. In the 1880 census there is another mostly black
settlement called the "Eureka Settlement" near Smokeville. There is no census
for 1890. As all genealogists know, it was destroyed in a fire in Washington in
the 1920's. In the 1900 census George Parker is 70, day laborer. He and his wife
Emily have been married 33 years. Three daughters Minnie, 20, Hannah, 16, and
Mary, 16 live with them. Charley Scott is 57, black, oil mill laborer. He and
his wife have been married 31 years and have 7 children at home from 24 years to
7 months of age. Jerry Smith is 65, black, preacher. He lives with his wife of
32 years and 2 children. Felix Crooms is 36, black, day laborer. He lives with
his wife, 1 child, and 1 nephew. Austin Lee is 61, black, single and has 2
tenants, including Daniel Crooms.